1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to headwear and, more particularly, to a headwear piece with a crown formed at least partially from a fabric sheet.
2. Background Art
It is well known to construct caps, such as baseball-style caps, from fabric gores. Typically, the gores are triangularly shaped and are sewn edge-to-edge to produce an inverted cup shape to accept a wearer's head. A circumferential bottom edge of the crown extends around and grips the wearer's head to maintain the headwear piece in place. A sweatband is commonly attached adjacent to the bottom edge within, and fully around, the crown to contact the wearer's head. One of the main purposes of the sweat band is to absorb perspiration and thereby avoid migration of perspiration through to the external surface of the crown as might detract significantly from its appearance.
It is also known to use a spandex-type material on gores of the crown. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,415, to Beckerman, it is taught that the rear gores can be made from a spandex material which allows the circumferential dimension of the gripping portion of the crown to change slightly. This allows each hat construction to fit a range of head sizes with a custom fit appearance. As a result, purveyors of these caps can offer a full range of sizes with fewer caps, thereby reducing inventory and simplifying inventory control. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,415, it is taught to construct the sweat band from material that is stretchable uniaxially around the circumference of the head gripping edge of the crown. To accommodate circumferential stretching of the crown, the sweatband is described to be sewn continuously around the entire bottom edge thereof and to be tacked to the crown at spotted locations near the top edge of the sweat band.